A Shade of Vampire 85: A Shard of Soul

by Bella Forrest

  “What surprises me is that Death made you from scratch, and yet you’re capable of such feelings...”

  “Oh, well technically speaking we weren’t made from scratch, per se. Before she thought of making Reapers from the existing souls of people who’d died, she experimented with other, less orthodox methods, let’s say,” Dream explained. “Death isn’t life. She can’t make Reapers out of nothing. She has to start from somewhere.”

  “Life…” I mumbled.

  “The Word. The force of the living.” Dream smiled broadly. “You are its servant, a vessel for its power, but I doubt you know everything about it.” She waited for me to reply, but I had no words. Just a faint shrug. “That’s a conversation for another time. Thank you for taking a moment to check on me. It’s much appreciated.”

  “No, wait. What unorthodox methods are you referring to?” I asked, having almost glossed past the single most intriguing part of her previous statement.

  She let a heavy sigh out. “Spirit making a copy of his own soul wasn’t the first time this was done. He, like the rest of us First Tenners, is a copy of an original soul. Our matrixes, let’s call them, moved on into the afterlife. We were used as blank slates and given Reaper powers, hence why we’re capable of understanding and feeling emotions like everybody else.”

  “Whoa. Do you remember your originals’ lives?”

  Dream shook her head. “Death made sure we were blank. But there are things she could never erase, such as the general direction in which our personalities would evolve. She used to say that we were apples befallen not far from their trees. Anyway, that’s all I’m willing to share, if you don’t mind.”

  “That’s okay. I appreciate you opening up to me, nonetheless. All this aside, did Petra say anything else?” I asked, noticing how eager Dream was to get away from this personal side of our conversation.

  “The truth,” she said, nodding slowly. “The unpleasant truth that no one has been able to tell us until now. I suppose we’ve all guessed it, but Petra basically confirmed it. The only one who knows how to free Unending is Unending. With Spirit gone, she’s our only hope. The irony doesn’t escape me. Spirit didn’t leave any information about it with the Darklings. Not a word in his so-called sacred chronicles. We thought the Master and the Whips knew. They gave that impression, as well. But they don’t. Spirit must’ve figured one of us might get too close. He couldn’t bring himself to trust the Darklings with the most precious of his knowledge—the actual seals used to bind Unending to Visio.”

  My heart sank like a chunk of lead. I almost heard it hitting the floor. Thump. Thump. Thump. “Why doesn’t this surprise me?”

  “Because Spirit spent too much time with hate in his heart. It consumed him. It transformed him. I swear, he wasn’t like this in his earlier days. I could trust him with my entire existence back then. But he wanted to move on, and Death denied him the only thing he ever wanted. From that moment, his anger festered into something ugly and poisonous. Had he not been such a brilliant thinker, we would’ve seen most of this coming, I think. But Spirit was easily one of the brightest minds to ever bear the Reaper title. I guess that’s why Death didn’t want him to leave.”

  I needed a moment to wrap my head around all this. I pushed open the door to Tristan’s room, listening to its creaky hinges. It seemed empty, but I knew there was an interdimensional pocket somewhere in here, where great and dangerous things were happening.

  “Should we tell Valaine?” I asked, my voice barely audible.

  “There’s something else,” she said. “Petra didn’t mean to divulge it, but she was so furious, yammering on and on, that she let it slip. She mentioned a rumor passed down from the first Master of Darkness all the way to Corbin, which he shared with the Whips. The seal that bound Unending to her Aeternae body has a trigger of sorts. If Tristan and Unending aren’t careful, they’ll unleash the purest death all over Visio. Petra stopped herself before she could say more.”

  “What, like some kind of internal trip wire?”

  “Yes. Unending needs to be extremely cautious with how she navigates her liberation. The Black Fever is a symptom of her captivity, but it’s also connected to the seal. So if we break that seal without a full understanding of how it works, we might trigger the kind of devastation that would wipe out all life on Visio.”

  My blood ran cold. “Why would Spirit do such a thing? It would kill his Darklings too, right?”

  “I suppose he left it for Unending to learn once she awakens. A last ‘screw you’ to the Reaper who rejected him,” Dream grumbled. “Sick bastard…”

  A sense of urgency came over me, my heart beating faster as the potential repercussions took shape in my mind. “We definitely have to tell Valaine about this, so she’s not taken by surprise when she does get to that stage.”

  Dream nodded her agreement and motioned for me to enter Tristan’s room, while she summoned the Time Master. “How can I help?” he asked.

  “You heard Petra mention the trigger,” Dream said. “I told Lumi about it.”

  “We have to warn Valaine,” I replied.

  Time frowned. “I can take you inside the pocket, but if she’s unconscious and digging through her memories, I would advise against waking her up. She’s already fragile.”

  “Phantom or Morning can warn her,” Dream said. “They’re anchored in both reality and her subconscious, aren’t they?”

  “Worth a shot,” Time conceded, presenting his scythe. He cut through the air with its glimmering blade, revealing a luminescent gash. Putting his weapon away, he used both hands to part the opening, making it tall and wide enough for us to simply walk through it.

  I found myself standing in a dark room different from the tower. It was so quiet, I could hear myself breathing. But my attention was quickly drawn to the four people sitting in the middle with their legs crossed. Two of them—Valaine and Tristan—were glowing, their eyes closed. The other two—Phantom and Morning—were staring at them, equal parts astonished and concerned.

  Time was just as surprised. “What’s happening?”

  “We’re not sure,” Phantom answered quietly. “This started only a few hours ago.”

  “Why are they… like this?” I asked, something clutching my throat. As eerie and as beautiful as Tristan and Valaine seemed with this light burning from within, it didn’t feel… natural. Not to mention normal. This was anything but, and I’d already had enough crazy for one day.

  “Again, we’re not sure,” Morning replied. “I’ve tried waking them up, but they’re not responsive. Heck, they won’t even budge. It’s like they’re paralyzed.”

  “Do you think maybe you should’ve come out to tell us?” Dream wondered aloud, and it earned her a scowl from Phantom.

  “Do you think we haven’t considered that?” the young-looking Reaper replied. “Time flows much slower in here, so Morning and I figured we might try to do something more before reaching out for help. It’s literally why Time put us in here in the first place.”

  “No need to get snappy,” Dream shot back.

  “Well, we have to talk to Valaine,” I said. “Right now.”

  Morning chuckled bitterly. “Good luck with that.”

  “I’m serious.”

  “And I appreciate that, but we’re both locked out,” Morning replied. “We’ve already tried reaching into Valaine’s mind. We hit nothing but tall and infinite black walls. It’s like she doesn’t want anyone disturbing her.”

  “What about Tristan?” I asked, fear gradually working its way through my system and warming my skin. My own clothes felt like molten lava, making me want to peel everything off just to escape this uncomfortable sensation.

  “It’s Valaine’s mind that I can connect with, because of Unending. Reapers connect with Reapers on such a deep level. It doesn’t work with the living the same way,” Phantom said. “Besides, Tristan is inside Valaine’s mind. I don’t have access to him. They’re both out of my reach.”

&
nbsp; I turned to Dream. “Would you be able to help? Like your brother did with Kalon?”

  “I’m sorry.” She sighed. “Tristan isn’t dreaming. He’s conscious but linked to Valaine’s mind. Whatever is happening now, it’s got something to do with Unending.”

  “I think she’s getting closer to her full awakening,” Phantom said.

  “And that’s a problem, because she doesn’t understand what she’s about to walk into.” I rubbed my face with both hands in a bid to calm myself down.

  I wasn’t sure there was anything we could do at this point. Perhaps Valaine might figure out that there’s something wrong with the seal. I could only hope she’d have the presence of spirit to catch the irregularity before she waded into her full consciousness. The more I thought of Petra, the more I hoped there would be some kind of punishment waiting for her on the other side. Had we known about this sooner, we could have warned Valaine of the potential disaster.

  “Damn you, Petra,” I mumbled, mostly to myself, unable to look away from Tristan and Valaine’s glowing forms. Whatever was going on, it had to lead somewhere good. I was so tired of all these wretched twists and turns. Every moment we spent on territory that wasn’t ours—namely the world of death magic and Reapers—was a moment we risked getting ourselves and our loved ones killed. I’d already lost Nethissis to this madness. I couldn’t take much more.

  In hindsight, I certainly agreed with why Death wanted our realms to stay separate from each other. Visio and its past five million years were obvious examples of why we were all better off not mingling. At all…

  Tristan

  Pure light surrounded us. All I could see was this endless sea and sky of white. It was peaceful and bright, like I imagined bliss would feel like if it were a real world. The Unending and I stood in front of each other. I had my GASP uniform on, and she wore her white dress with black gloves, hair cascading down her back.

  Her red lips stretched into a warm smile, and I felt my whole being suffused with the sweet warmth of sunshine. It was as if a star were growing inside me, gathering its energy as it swelled and consumed every atom in my body. And I was okay with that because it felt amazing.

  “Where are we?” I heard myself ask.

  “I don’t know,” the Unending replied. “But I followed the gold thread here.”

  “It was supposed to take us to Keryn’s earliest memory,” I said. “This doesn’t feel like a memory at all.”

  Unending shook her head. “No, it doesn’t. Which is odd. It’s rather frustrating to be so unaware of what’s in my own mind.”

  “Hey, we made it this far,” I said, touching her face. Buzzing energy flowed through me, and I needed a moment to adjust to this new, electrifying sensation. Would it be like this whenever my skin found hers? I hoped so because it was out of this world. “We’ll find our way into the next stage, too.”

  “Your confidence is what gives me strength,” she whispered. I could see the stars in her black eyes flickering whenever they found me. I felt her love blossoming inside me, and the closer we got, the more powerful this feeling between us became. We had no control over it. It had taken a life of its own, and we were just riding the wave.

  Looking around, I wondered what all this meant. This blankness. It was the complete opposite of the nothingness in which we’d lingered before. “So you followed the gold thread into your earliest memory as Keryn,” I said. “Is that what you had in mind when you touched it?”

  “Not really. I mean, I did hold that intention, but I thought of something else too,” the Unending replied. “I thought of myself. My true self. I thought of finding my way back and getting this over with, once and for all. Do you think maybe my subconscious listened, and we’re in some sort of limbo preceding my true self?”

  “It could be. I wouldn’t put it past you, Unending. You’re more capable than you think.”

  “Okay. Then what next?” she asked, her gaze wandering over the white emptiness. I spotted the faint draw of her brows as she fixated on something. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw what had captured her attention. It didn’t feel right.

  It was a black tendril, moving upward like a thread of smoke, silent and discreet and dangerous. I couldn’t see where it was coming from, but I knew, deep down, that it stemmed from the Unending.

  “That can’t be good,” I breathed.

  “Tristan, I’m afraid…”

  I gripped her arm and held her close as we moved away from the tendril, which had already split in two. Looking down, I couldn’t find its source. It seemed to go on and on forever, because the white space had no notion of up, down, left, or right. The laws of physics didn’t apply to this nook in Unending’s subconscious.

  From two tendrils, we were suddenly faced with ten, each growing and engorging itself. Soon enough, they were lashing out, trying to get to us. “I think we need to run,” I whispered, then bolted as far away from the black arms as I could. The Unending was right beside me, but the faster we ran, the harder it became to move.

  “Something’s wrong,” Unending said, her voice sharp with panic.

  I couldn’t go on. Glancing down, I saw my boots sinking into the whiteness, like it was iridescent quicksand. The Unending was in a similar situation, writhing and squirming, desperate to get out before it consumed us both. The white space we’d stumbled into was now our greatest enemy, and the tendrils trembled as they shot toward us.

  Using my claws, I slashed at them. They were made of pure black smoke, I realized. None of my hits did anything, and they continued to lash me like merciless whips. I felt each strike like a burning bite into my very flesh.

  “Tristan, this… this isn’t supposed to be here!” Unending cried out.

  “How do we stop it?” I asked, wrestling one particularly persistent tendril as it coiled itself around my torso and tightened its grip, making it hard for me to breathe. “We’re running… out of time here…”

  Unending stilled, half-sunk into the whiteness. The tendrils were intensely focused on her, their tips wiggling as they traced the contours of her pale face. Her eyes widened as she looked at me. “Stop attacking it,” she said. “Don’t hit it anymore.”

  “It’s kind of hard, since it’s hurting me,” I managed, gritting my teeth as another lash cut right through my side. Whatever this was, it had more of a problem with me than with her.

  “Just let it,” she replied. “Trust me, Tristan. Surrender.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it’s part of the seal. It’s a trigger of sorts, meant to stop me from digging deeper.” Unending said. “This is it! The failsafe that Spirit mentioned when he killed Keryn. I can see it now. It’s restless and volatile… my own anger manifesting. The harder you hit it, the harder it hits back.”

  Inhaling deeply, I allowed myself to be pummeled into oblivion. The few tendrils that had focused on me kept hitting—incessantly, mercilessly—until they… stopped. Finally, I opened my eyes again. I hadn’t even realized I’d shut them. The tendrils were all still, black smoke rippling as they aimed their tips at my head.

  Fear bubbled up inside me like acid, drilling holes into my throat.

  “What is this thing?” I murmured, crippled by my own helplessness.

  “It’s the Black Fever. The real Black Fever. Not the mild virus infecting the Aeternae or the darkness that oozes out of me when I lose control,” the Unending said. “It’s the force that feeds on my anger and misery. Spirit modified it with a trigger.”

  My head almost snapped as I turned to gawk at her. “What?”

  “He modified it. The Black Fever is a curse, Tristan, remember? And with this trigger that Spirit added, it’s extremely volatile. The more we fight it, the worse it gets. He wanted me to stop reaching beyond this point…”

  “Do you know how to get past it, then?”

  “Sort of. It’s hard to explain, but I need you to believe in me,” she replied, her voice trembling. “No matter what comes next, I need to know that you
believe in me.”

  “I do believe in you.” I wanted to, with all my heart. But I was half-eaten by the whiteness, with black tendrils of pure Black Fever pointing their unnervingly sharp tips at my face. I wanted to believe in her, I really did.

  “If we’re not careful, this thing will explode,” Unending said. “I know it, deep down. It’s like a nagging thought I can’t shake. It’s been in my head forever, but it’s only surfacing now. I think my instincts are trying to get one step ahead of me with this.”

  The tendrils moved around as though they were analyzing us. Observing us. Perhaps looking for a better angle to strike. I felt vulnerable, which made Unending’s plea for my belief increasingly difficult to achieve. Nevertheless, I held on. What other choice did I have, after everything we’d been through?

  “What do you mean when you say it will explode?” I asked.

  “It will leave us and release itself upon the world. I’ve been holding on to it for so long, I’d forgotten,” the Unending replied. “Spirit wanted to make sure I couldn’t break my own chains.”

  As I considered this new reality, I began to understand how far the Spirit Bender had really gone to keep the Unending buried and miserable, forever trapped. It made me sick to my stomach, but nowhere near as sick as the thought of watching this dark monstrosity escape the Unending’s physical body and infect the entire planet.

  “How do we stop it?” I asked, trying to focus on a solution.

  “We can’t. Not from in here,” Unending replied. “If only I could peek behind this white curtain… If I remember, if I can figure out what the seals are, we can stop it from the outside.”

  I’d sunk up to my chest, and the light enveloped me in a most inviting manner. The contrast between this pleasant feeling and the threat of the black tendrils didn’t escape my notice. Instead, it gave me the craziest of ideas—but then, who ever found escape in sanity? A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth as I glanced at the Unending. “I need you to believe in me this time.”

  It made her light up like the sun, and I found myself entranced by her presence, even in these dangerous circumstances. “I believe in you, Tristan.”